Do you need an app, or will a web app do?

“We need an app” is one of the most common things we hear, and one of the most expensive to get wrong. Sometimes a phone app is exactly right. Often, a web app does the same job for less, and gets used more. Here’s how to tell which one you need.

What’s the difference?

• A native app is the kind you download from the App Store or Google Play. It lives on the home screen, works offline, and can use everything the phone offers.
• A web app runs in the browser, like a website that behaves like an app: logins, dashboards, bookings, payments. Nothing to download. Many web apps can also be added to the home screen and send notifications, including on iPhone since iOS 16.4.

When a phone app earns its place

Build a native app when most of these are true:

• People will use it often, every week or every day: a gym, a club, a loyalty program, a tool your staff use on the job.
• Push notifications are central: reminders, order updates, “your table is ready”.
• It needs the phone’s hardware: camera scanning, location in the background, Bluetooth, offline use in places without signal.
• Being in the App Store matters to how customers find and trust you.

When a web app is the better choice

• People will use it now and then, and won’t want to download anything for it.
• It’s mostly forms, dashboards and accounts: customer portals, quoting tools, booking systems, internal tools.
• You want one thing to build and maintain, with updates that are live for everyone the moment you publish them.
• You need it working on computers as well as phones.

The costs nobody mentions

Native apps carry ongoing costs beyond the build:

• Store accounts. Apple’s developer program is US$99 a year, and Google Play has a one-off US$25 registration.
• Review and approval. Every release goes through Apple’s and Google’s review, which takes time and can be knocked back.
• Keeping up. New iOS and Android versions arrive every year, and apps need updating to keep working well.
• Store fees. If you sell digital goods or subscriptions inside the app, Apple and Google take a commission.

You may not have to choose

Modern tools let us build one app that runs on iPhone, Android and the web from a single codebase, sharing the same accounts and data. Your customers download it if they want to, use it in the browser if they don’t, and you run everything from one web dashboard. It costs much less than building two or three separate apps.

Our honest advice

Start with what people need to do, and how often they’ll do it. If it’s weekly and on the go, an app earns its spot on the home screen. If not, a web app gets you live sooner, for less, and you can always add the phone app later on the same foundations.

We build both, and we’ll tell you honestly which fits. You can tap through a prototype in the first week. See how it works on our web and mobile apps page, or tell us about your idea.